Interactive Spectating Interface for Live Videos

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, a method includes a system receiving, from a third-party system, a first request to publish a live video. The system may receive a second request for content from a user device and, in response, transmit display instructions and one or more network addresses from which the live video and an interface application are available. The display instructions may be configured to cause the user device to: configure a video player application to display the live video obtained using at least one of the one or more network addresses; and configure the interface application, obtained using at least one of the one or more network addresses, to be displayed over at least a portion of the live video and to communicate with the third-party computing system.

PRIORITY

This application is a continuation under 35 U.S.C. § 120 of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/620,712, filed 12 Jun. 2017, which isincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to a framework allowing developers todevelop and deploy interactive interfaces for live content.

BACKGROUND

Users of a social-networking system may publish a live video through thesocial-networking system. The video content may be sent to thesocial-networking system from any source, including the user's ownmobile device or computer, a third-party application and its server, athird-party streaming service, among others. The social-networkingsystem may publish the live video on a web site or through anapplication associated with the social-networking system. Other usersviewing the live video may post comments relating to the live video onthe social-networking platform.

A social-networking system, which may include a social-networkingwebsite, may enable its users (such as persons or organizations) tointeract with it and with each other through it. The social-networkingsystem may, with input from a user, create and store in thesocial-networking system a user profile associated with the user. Theuser profile may include demographic information, communication-channelinformation, and information on personal interests of the user. Thesocial-networking system may also, with input from a user, create andstore a record of relationships of the user with other users of thesocial-networking system, as well as provide services (e.g., wall posts,photo-sharing, event organization, messaging, games, or advertisements)to facilitate social interaction between or among users.

The social-networking system may send over one or more networks contentor messages related to its services to a mobile or other computingdevice of a user. A user may also install software applications on amobile or other computing device of the user for accessing a userprofile of the user and other data within the social-networking system.The social-networking system may generate a personalized set of contentobjects to display to a user, such as a newsfeed of aggregated storiesof other users connected to the user.

A mobile computing device—such as a smartphone, tablet computer, orlaptop computer—may include functionality for determining its location,direction, or orientation, such as a GPS receiver, compass, gyroscope,or accelerometer. Such a device may also include functionality forwireless communication, such as BLUETOOTH communication, near-fieldcommunication (NFC), or infrared (IR) communication or communicationwith a wireless local area networks (WLANs) or cellular-telephonenetwork. Such a device may also include one or more cameras, scanners,touchscreens, microphones, or speakers. Mobile computing devices mayalso execute software applications, such as games, web browsers, orsocial-networking applications. With social-networking applications,users may connect, communicate, and share information with other usersin their social networks.

SUMMARY OF PARTICULAR EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments disclosed herein relate to systems and methods that enableusers of a content-distribution platform (e.g., a social-networkingsystem) to not only passively view live content, but also to activelyengage with, e.g., other viewers, the content originator, as well as thecontent itself. The act of passively viewing or spectating is thereforetransformed into an interactive experience. Further, embodimentsdisclosed herein enable third-party developers to control and customizethe interactive experience for their specific live content. Inparticular embodiments, a social-networking system may provide aframework through which a developer may publish live video and providean interactive spectating interface. The interactive spectatinginterface may be overlaid on top of the live video. The interface maycontain a transparent portion that allows a user to see the live videounderneath. The interface may be custom designed by the developer tocommunicate with the developer's system and provide interactive featuresthat are tailored for the developer's live video.

The embodiments disclosed herein are only examples, and the scope ofthis disclosure is not limited to them. Particular embodiments mayinclude all, some, or none of the components, elements, features,functions, operations, or steps of the embodiments disclosed above.Embodiments according to the invention are in particular disclosed inthe attached claims directed to a method, a storage medium, a system anda computer program product, wherein any feature mentioned in one claimcategory, e.g. method, can be claimed in another claim category, e.g.system, as well. The dependencies or references back in the attachedclaims are chosen for formal reasons only. However any subject matterresulting from a deliberate reference back to any previous claims (inparticular multiple dependencies) can be claimed as well, so that anycombination of claims and the features thereof are disclosed and can beclaimed regardless of the dependencies chosen in the attached claims.The subj ect-matter which can be claimed comprises not only thecombinations of features as set out in the attached claims but also anyother combination of features in the claims, wherein each featurementioned in the claims can be combined with any other feature orcombination of other features in the claims. Furthermore, any of theembodiments and features described or depicted herein can be claimed ina separate claim and/or in any combination with any embodiment orfeature described or depicted herein or with any of the features of theattached claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example block diagram for an embodiment where aspectating interface is overlaid over a video player.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example block diagram for an embodiment where aspectating interface is configured to render live content.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example flow diagram for providing an interactivespectating interface.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example network environment associated with asocial-networking system.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example social graph.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example computer system.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Particular embodiments described herein relate to systems and methodsthat transform a spectating experience into an interactive experience.For example, users of a social-networking system may watch others playgames, some of which may be streamed live in real time. Particularembodiments described herein enable a spectators to not only watchgames, but also actively engage in the games by, e.g., posting livereactions, sentiments, and/or comments for the current game player andother spectators to see. In addition, the spectator may join a game andplay with the game player or another spectator by clicking/tapping on anactivation element presented with the streaming content. Triggering theactivation element may cause a native gaming app installed on the user'ssystem to launch and automatically establish the necessary connectionsto join the game. Such examples of interactive spectating features driveengagement between social-networking users around the content (e.g.,game) as well as with the game itself, thereby benefiting the end users,the social-networking system, and the game developer.

Systems and methods described with respect to particular embodimentsprovide a framework for a developer to develop an interactive spectatingexperience that is tailored for the content streamed by the developerthrough a social-networking system. By leaving the implementationdetails of the spectating interface to the developers, the interfacecould be custom tailored for each individual content being broadcast(e.g., game), rather than being a generic interface provided by thesocial networking system. For example, the developer's game server mayleverage its knowledge of the game state to provide dynamic features forthe spectating interface.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example block diagram for an embodiment where aninteractive spectating interface is overlaid over a video player. At ahigh level, for example, a live video may be overlaid with aninteractive spectating interface (which may be implemented using, e.g.,HTML5). The interface may be designed by a third-party developer(relative to the social-networking system) of an application that isconfigured to cause live content to be streamed through thesocial-networking system. In particular embodiments, the interface maybe uploaded to the social-networking system. In particular embodiments,the interface may comprise a transparent portion that allows theunderlying content to be visible. The interface may also comprise anycontrol and display elements for supporting the developer's spectatinginterface design. Through the interface, a spectator may be able toprovide input to and receive updates from a system associated with thethird-party developer (e.g., a game server associated with a gamedeveloper). For example, since a game server may know and have controlover the game state/features, the game server would be able to provideinteractive opportunities and/or feedback based on the gamestate/features. An example of the system infrastructure for enabling athird-party developer to design and deploy such an interactivespectating overlay is shown in FIG. 1.

In particular embodiments, the systems and processes shown in FIG. 1 maybe used to provide live broadcasts of games with an interactivespectating interface. It should be appreciated that although thisexample embodiment is described in the gaming context, this disclosurecontemplates integrating an interactive spectating interface with anysuitable content, such as a video/audio broadcast. In particularembodiments, a user or game player may be playing a native gaming app103 on his/her mobile device. The player may log into the game 103,which may communicate with a corresponding game server 130 associatedthe game's developer. In particular embodiments, the player may alsoauthenticated himself with a social-networking system. When the playerwishes to broadcast his live game play through the social-networkingsystem, his device may, in particular embodiments, communicate 110 withthe game server 130 and transmit a stream key, player access token,and/or a broadcast permission/target, each of which may be used by thegame server 130 to request the social-networking system to broadcast thelive game play. The stream key may represent an identification orreference to the streaming session of the game that is being played. Theplayer access token may be a token that authenticates and identifies theplayer on the social-networking system. For example, the player accesstoken may be generated in response to the player successfullyauthenticating himself with the social-networking system. Theauthentication may occur in any conventional manner, such as the playerlogging into the social-networking system when launching the game. Thebroadcast permission/target, which may eventually passed to thesocial-networking system, may inform the social-networking system of thedesired permissions and or targets for the live streaming of the game.For example, a permission may restrict potential spectators to those whoare within a particular group or within a threshold degree of separationfrom16 the player in the social-networking system. As another example, atarget may specify which users or types of users may be shown the livecontent.

The game 103 and the game server 130 may also communicate 110 during agame. For example, the game 103 may transmit game control packets to thegame server 130 during game play. This may include, e.g., user commands,purchases, game state, and other game-related data. The game server 130may also transmit, e.g., server-side game states, instructions, andadvertisements to the game 103. For example, certain game state may bedetermined by the server, and such game state may be communicated to thegaming application 103 during a game. As another example, the gameserver 130 may send the player community game updates, which may relateto game states and/or commands from other players who are playing a gamewith the player.

As discussed above, the player's game play may be broadcast live througha social-networking system. In particular embodiments, the livebroadcast request may be transmitted from the game developer's cloud 120to the social-networking cloud 160. In particular embodiments, the gamedeveloper's cloud 120 may comprise the game server 130 and an encodingservice 140 that is configured to generate and/or encode videos of theplayer's game play for distribution to the social-networking cloud 160.In particular embodiments, the game developer's cloud 120 may establisha streaming session with the social-networking system by submitting alive video request. The live video request may be transmitted from,e.g., the encoding service 140 or the game server 130. In an embodimentwhere the encoding service 140 is configured to interface with thesocial-networking cloud 160, the game server 130 may pass 135 a gameserver URI to the encoding service 140. As will be described in moredetail below, this game server URI may subsequently be used by theinteractive spectating interface to communicate directly with the gameserver 130. In particular embodiments, the game server 130 may also pass135 the player's player access token and/or the broadcastpermission/target information to the encoding service 140. The playeraccess token may be used to show the social-networking cloud 160 who theplayer is and that he is authorized to publish content through hisaccount with the social-networking system. The broadcastpermission/target may also be part of the request 143 to inform thesocial-networking cloud 160 of the desired audience of the live video.In particular embodiments, the game server 130 may also send the streamkey to the encoding service 140. The stream key may be used by theencoding service 140 to identify a particular streaming session that isestablished with the social-networking cloud 160 for streaming the livevideo. For example, as the game server 130 generates new content, thecontent may be sent 135 to the encoding service 140 with the appropriatestream key to inform the encoding service 140 of which stream to use.

In particular embodiments, the game developer cloud 120 may request thesocial-networking cloud 160 to publish a live video. Thesocial-networking cloud 160 may comprise a graph API 170 and a streamservice 180. The graph API 170 may be configured to handle live videorequests and respond by generating a live video object and insert itinto a social graph maintained by the social-networking system. Thestream service 180 may be configured to receive and distribute livevideo. In particular embodiments, the live video creation request may besent to the graph API 170. In particular embodiments, the live videorequest 143 may be accompanied with the player access token and/or thebroadcast permission/target, as discussed above. In particularembodiments, the request may also include user identifiers within thesocial-networking system that identify the player and/or any otherplayers who are playing the game with the player. The user identifier(s)may be used by the social-networking system to determine where topublish the requested live video (e.g., news feeds associated with theplayer and/or his friends), for example. In particular embodiments, therequest 143 may also include story attribution data, which may includeany metadata that may be used to generate a social-media story for thelive video. For example, the story attribution data may includeinformation relating to the current game state (e.g., the player isfighting a particular boss in the game), how long the player has beenplaying, the player's score, the player's opponents, and any otherinformation that may be helpful in generating textual context for thelive video. In particular embodiments, the request 143 may include thegame server's URI or connection address (e.g., web socket), as discussedabove. In particular embodiments, the request 143 may further includelandscape/portrait crop rules, which may be used by thesocial-networking system to determine how the live video should becropped when being displayed in different viewing orientations. Inparticular embodiments, the request 143 may also include a deeplinkgenerated by the game developer cloud 120. As will be described in moredetail below, the deeplink may be used by the spectating interface tolaunch the appropriate gaming application on the user's device andprovide the gaming application with instructional data to automaticallyperform certain actions (e.g., starting a gaming session with the gameserver).

In particular embodiments, the graph API 170 may receive the live videorequest and, in response, generate and inject a live video object in thesocial graph. In particular embodiments, the live video object may beassociated with objects in the social graph that are associated with theplayer and/or other players who are playing the game. In particularembodiments, the graph API 170 may send 143 back a reference to the livevideo object to the game developer cloud 120 (e.g., the encoding service140 of the cloud 120). The live video object may include an RTMP(Real-Time Messaging Protocol) URI to which video frames may be pushed(any content source may push video frames to this URI, including astreaming service, a user's phone, etc.). In particular embodiments, theRTMP URI may point to the stream service 180 of the social-networkingcloud 160. The stream service 180 may accumulate the received frames andtransmit a live video upon request.

Particular embodiments of the live video streaming flow may be asfollows. As a game is being played, the game server 130 may simulate thegame and render the corresponding frames and provide 135 them to theencoding service 140 for distribution. In particular embodiments, astream key may be sent with the video frames to inform the encodingservice 140 of the stream to which the video frames belong. The encodingservice 140 may then transmit 147 the video frames to the stream service180 of the social-networking system using the RTMP RUI that isassociated with the live video object associated with the live video. Inparticular embodiments, the encoding service may utilize any streamingservice 150 (which may be a third-party service external to the gamedeveloper system) to distribute the video stream to thesocial-networking cloud 160. The video frames may be accumulated by thestream service 180, and upon request may distribute the frames.

In particular embodiments, the social-networking system may publish thelive video in news feed. In particular embodiments, thesocial-networking cloud 160 may comprise a feed backend server 190. Thefeed backend server 190 may communicate 175 with the graph API 170and/or the stream service 180 to obtain story data. The story data,which may include the aforementioned story attribution data, may be usedto generate a story for the live content in a news feed. In particularembodiments, the feed backend server 190 may receive a feed request 195from a user device configured to display news feeds 101. For example,the user of the device may be logged into the social-networking systemthrough an associated app or browser. The feed backend server 190 mayidentify the requesting user and determine what news feed to provide. Inparticular embodiments, the server 190 may use the social graph todetermine that the requesting user's news feed should include the livevideo associated with the live video object that was created (e.g., therequesting user may be within a threshold degree of separation, such as1, from the player who is publishing the live video). In particularembodiments, the feed backend server 190 may also consider the broadcastpermission/target instructions to determine whether or not the livevideo should be shown to the requesting user. If the server 190determines that the live video should be shown, it may transmit 195 oneor more of the following data. In particular embodiments, the server 190may transmit 195 one or more feed stories, one of which may be a storygenerated using the story attribution data to provide context and/or tomarket the live video. In particular embodiments, the story may includeone or more video frames associated with the live video. In particularembodiments, the live video (without an interactive spectatinginterface) may be streamed through the news feeds as part of the story.In particular embodiments, the live video presented in the news feed maybe overlaid with an interactive spectating interface, as will bedescribed in more detail below. In particular embodiments, the server190 may transmit a video stream URI from which to download the livevideo or a preview of the live video (e.g., one or more frames), a gameserver URI as described above, and/or an instant overlay URI from whichto download the interactive spectating interface. In particularembodiments, the interactive spectating interface may be implementedusing HTML5 and/or JavaScript and packaged in a zip file. Theinteractive spectating interface may be designed and implemented by thegame developer and uploaded to a server associated with thesocial-networking system. Through the instant overlay URI, theparticular interactive spectating interface for the game may bedownloaded. In particular embodiments, the social-networking system maydetermine which instant overlay URI to provide based on informationprovided with the live video creation request (e.g., the request mayspecify an identifier assigned to the instant overlay or any otherinformation, such as the deeplink or game ID, that may be mapped to theparticular instant overlay).

In particular embodiments, the server 190 may transmit 195 displayinstructions (e.g., in HTML) that specify how the transmittedinformation should be configured in the user's news feed 101. Inparticular embodiments, the story associated with the live video may beconfigured to handle an activation input. Upon receiving such anactivation input 198 (e.g., user clicking or tapping on the story orlive video), the news feed 101 may transition into a mode 102 where thelive video is presented with an interactive spectating interface. Inparticular embodiments, the live video stream may be loaded and startedin a video player (e.g., using the video stream URI to download 185 thevideo from the stream service 180). In particular embodiments, the videoplayer may be displayed within the social networking platform (e.g.,within the news feed, in a separate window/interface stemming from thenews feed, within an associated chat interface/messenger, etc.). Inparticular embodiments, the social-networking cloud 160 (e.g., throughthe stream service 180) may also send 185 to the user device commandsand/or reaction data posted by users in response to the live video.

In particular embodiments, instructions provided by the server 190 mayalso cause the client device to download a package (e.g., zip file)containing the interactive spectating interface (e.g., HTML5,JavaScript, and image assets) using the instant overlay URI. Thespectating interface may then be loaded and started using the downloadedpackage. In particular embodiments, the spectating interface may run asan HTML5 app in web view, with injected JavaScript SDK that allows theHTML5 app to talk to the surrounding app (e.g., an app associated withthe social-networking system) and take advantage of the social contextin which the HTML5 is embedded. In particular embodiments, thethird-party game server URI may be injected into the interactivespectating interface to allow it to communicate 187 with the gameserver. Through this link 187, the spectator's reactions, comments,and/or commands that are input through the spectating interface may besent to and processed by the game server 130. Comments and/or reactions,for example, may be shared with others (e.g., the game player and otherspectators) through the game server 130. In particular embodiments,developer-defined interactions packets may be sent from the interactivespectating interface 102 to the game server 130 for processing. The gameserver may process the received packets in any manner it chooses. Forexample, the packets, which may be sent in response to inputs made bythe spectator, may be configured to influence the actual game playand/or trigger any ancillary actions (e.g., gifting, commenting, issuinga challenge, etc.). Thus, not only may the spectator input reactionsand/or comments to the streamed content, it may also influence thecontent and communicate with the originator (e.g., player) of thecontent. This is made possible in part because the game server 130 hasknowledge of and has control over the game state. The game server 130may also send 187 the spectating interface 102 instructions (e.g.,developer-defined interaction opportunities, which may depend on thecurrent game state) and/or data to display. Since the spectatinginterface is designed by the game developer, it would be configured tohandle the game server's 130 instructions appropriately.

Through the embodiments described above, a spectator of a live video maybe provided with an interactive spectating experience. Live videocontent (e.g., of the game) may be streamed through the video player,which may be overlaid (e.g., fully or partially covered) with aninteractive spectating interface capable of receiving input from thespectator and sending/receiving data and instructions to the game server130. In particular embodiments, the interactive spectating interface 102may be a custom HTML5 app developed by the game developer, and may beconfigured to connect to the third-party game server 130 endpoint andtake directions on what actions to perform. In particular embodiments,the interactive spectating interface may implement (via an SDK provideby the social-networking system) certain common features. For instance,each interactive spectating interface may support a swipe-left featurethat allows comments and reaction to be displayed over the video.

In particular embodiments, the interactive spectating interface may beconfigured to support a deeplink activation. In particular embodiments,the deeplink provided by the game server 130 to the social-networkingsystem may be integrated into the spectating interface. For example, thedisplay instructions sent from the feed backend server 190 to the userdevice may configure a handler for receiving a deeplink activation inputfrom the spectator. Upon activating 199 the deeplink, the deeplink mayattempt to launch the appropriate app (e.g., the game that is beingstreamed in the live video) installed on the spectator's device. If theapp is unavailable, the spectator may be redirected to an app store orsource from which the app may be downloaded. While in the descriptionabove the gaming app 103 represented the device of the player and thecontent source of the live video being streamed, the gaming app 103 inthe present context represents the spectator's device activating thenative gaming app. The game developer may design the deeplink to includeany information (e.g., app scheme that the developer registered, a gamesession ID associated with the game that was streamed in the live video,instructions, etc.) and to trigger any type of action within thedeveloper's gaming app 103. For example, activating the deeplink maylaunch the app and instruction the app to automatically queue thespectator to join a game (tournament or match) with the player and/orother spectators (e.g., to play the winner of the last game) based onthe type of game being streamed. As another example, the spectatorprovide in-game gifting directly through the deeplink. It should beappreciated that the game developer is provided with the flexibility toimplement the specific actions that may be performed. Through thedeeplink, a spectator may interact with a game developer through thedeveloper's native gaming app.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example block diagram for an embodiment where aspectating interface is configured to render live content (e.g., livegaming). In the embodiment shown, only an HTML5 app 202 would be runningon the spectator's device without utilizing a video player. Instead ofstreaming a live video through a player, the live game play may berendered by the HTML5 app 202 on the spectator's device based on gamestate data sent by the game server 230. Aside from re-creating the gamefor the spectator, the HTML5 app 202 may include any spectatinginterface features. The spectating interface may communicate directlywith the game server 230 as described above with respect to FIG. 1.Since no video is involved, video processing and delivery is no longerneeded, which may be desirable for efficiency reasons.

In particular embodiments, in the process illustrated in FIG. 2, similarto that of FIG. 1, a game app 203 on a player's device may communicate210 with a game developer cloud 220, which may comprise a game server230. The game app 203 may similarly (1) transmit player access tokens,broadcast permission/target rules, and/or game control packets, and (2)receive server game updates and communicate game updates. However, sinceno video streaming is performed in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, astream key may not be transmitted in particular embodiments. For thesame reason, the game developer cloud 220 may not utilize an encodingservice and/or other streaming platforms since no video is broadcast. Inaddition, in particular embodiments the game server 230 may no longersimulates the game and render the corresponding video frames fordistribution.

In particular embodiments, the game developer cloud 220 (e.g., throughthe game server 230) may request the social-networking cloud 260 tocreate a game story. In particular embodiments, the game developer cloud220 may provide the player access tokens to the social-networking systemto authenticate the player, and request the system to adhere to thebroadcast permission/target rules. Similar to the process described withrespect to FIG. 1, the game server 230 may communicate 235 with a graphAPI 270 associated with the social-networking cloud 260 to submit therequest. In particular embodiments, the request may include informationsuch as user identifiers, story attribution, game server URI orconnection address, deeplink, and/or landscape/portrait crop rules,similar to those described with respect to FIG. 1. In particularembodiments, the game server 230 may in addition transmit 235 artassets, which may be used by the social-networking system to generate astory. In particular embodiments, the graph API 270 may create a gamestory object based on the information received and insert the objectinto a social graph maintained by the social-networking system. Inparticular embodiments, the game story object may be associated with theplayer and/or others players engaging in the same game.

In particular embodiments, a feed backend server 290 may obtain 275story data from the graph API 270 to create a game story. In a mannersimilarly described with respect to FIG. 1, the feed backend server 290may respond to feed requests 295 from a spectator's device running anews feed application 201 and return feed stories. One of the feedstories may be an overlay-enabled game story, generated using the storyattributes from the game developer cloud 220. In addition, the server290 may transmit an instant overlay URI from which an interactivespectating interface may be downloaded and a game server URI. Theoverlay-enabled game story may be configured to render a snapshot orshort movie of the game in progress based on game state data provided bythe game developer cloud 220.

In particular embodiments, instructions from the feed backend server 290may configure the game story to handle an activation event that, upontriggering 298, may load and start an interactive spectating interface202. In particular embodiments, the interactive spectating interface 202(e.g., HTML5/JavaScript package developed and uploaded by the gamedeveloper) may be downloaded using the instant overlay URI provided bythe feed backend server 290. In particular embodiments, the interactivespectating interface 202 may be injected with the game server URI, whichmay be used to communicate 287 with the game server 230. In particularembodiments, the interactive spectating interface 202 may transmitdeveloper-defined interaction packets, which may be processed by thegame server 230 to perform any actions. In particular embodiments, thegame server 230 may send to the interface 202 developer-definedinteraction opportunities and game state, including server game updatesand/or community game updates, as described above. The interactivespectating interface 202 may be configured by the game developer torender the game based on the game state received. Thus, rather thanusing a video player to play a video of the game, the embodiment shownin FIG. 2 uses the interface app 202 to recreate the gaming scenes.Similar to the interactive spectating interface described with respectto FIG. 1, the interface 202 may also be configured to handle spectatingfeatures, such as allowing the spectator to input a reaction/comment tothe game, as well as any other developer-defined interactionopportunities based on the game state. In particular embodiments, theinterface 202 may also receive 285 comment and reaction data from thesocial-networking cloud 260.

Similar to the deeplink feature described with respect to FIG. 1, theembodiment shown in FIG. 2 may also support the deeplink feature. Forinstance, the interactive spectating interface 202 may be configured tohandle a deeplink activation. Upon receiving an activation event 299,the interactive spectating interface 202 may launch an app 203 (e.g.,the gaming app) referenced by the deeplink and automatically perform anyaction encoded in the deeplink, as described above.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method 300 for providing an interactivespectating interface. The method may begin at step 310, where acomputing system associated with a social network may receive a firstrequest to publish a live video. In particular embodiments, a deeplinkmay also be received. The first request may be received from athird-party computing system relative to the social network, and thefirst request may comprise a first network address associated with thethird-party computing system. At 320, the computing system may receive asecond request for content from a first user device associated with afirst user. At 330, the computing system, in response to the secondrequest, may transmit to the first user device display instructions, thefirst network address associated with the third-party computing system,a second network address from which the live video is available, and athird network address from which an interface application is available.In particular embodiments, the computing system may also transmit thedeeplink. At step 340, the display instructions may be configured tocause the first user device to configure a video player application todisplay the live video obtained using the second network address. Atstep 350, the user device may also be caused to obtain the interfaceapplication using the third network address. At step 360, the userdevice may be caused to configure the interface application to bedisplayed over at least a portion of the live video. At step 370, theuser device may be caused to configure the interface application tocommunicate with the third-party computing system using the firstnetwork address. At 380, the user device may be caused to be configuredto receive an input activating the deeplink and, in response to theinput, launch the application installed on the first user deviceassociated with the deeplink. Particular embodiments may repeat one ormore steps of the method of FIG. 3, where appropriate. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates particular steps of the method ofFIG. 3 as occurring in a particular order, this disclosure contemplatesany suitable steps of the method of FIG. 3 occurring in any suitableorder. Moreover, although this disclosure describes and illustrates anexample method for providing an interactive spectating interfaceincluding the particular steps of the method of FIG. 3, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable method for providing an interactive spectatinginterface, including any suitable steps, which may include all, some, ornone of the steps of the method of FIG. 3, where appropriate.Furthermore, although this disclosure describes and illustratesparticular components, devices, or systems carrying out particular stepsof the method of FIG. 3, this disclosure contemplates any suitablecombination of any suitable components, devices, or systems carrying outany suitable steps of the method of FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example network environment 400 associated with asocial-networking system. Network environment 400 includes a clientsystem 430, a social-networking system 460, and a third-party system 470connected to each other by a network 410. Although FIG. 4 illustrates aparticular arrangement of client system 430, social-networking system460, third-party system 470, and network 410, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable arrangement of client system 430,social-networking system 460, third-party system 470, and network 410.As an example and not by way of limitation, two or more of client system430, social-networking system 460, and third-party system 470 may beconnected to each other directly, bypassing network 410. As anotherexample, two or more of client system 430, social-networking system 460,and third-party system 470 may be physically or logically co-locatedwith each other in whole or in part. Moreover, although FIG. 4illustrates a particular number of client systems 430, social-networkingsystems 460, third-party systems 470, and networks 410, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable number of client systems 430,social-networking systems 460, third-party systems 470, and networks410. As an example and not by way of limitation, network environment 400may include multiple client system 430, social-networking systems 460,third-party systems 470, and networks 410.

This disclosure contemplates any suitable network 410. As an example andnot by way of limitation, one or more portions of network 410 mayinclude an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual privatenetwork (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a widearea network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network(MAN), a portion of the Internet, a portion of the Public SwitchedTelephone Network (PSTN), a cellular telephone network, or a combinationof two or more of these. Network 410 may include one or more networks410.

Links 450 may connect client system 430, social-networking system 460,and third-party system 470 to communication network 410 or to eachother. This disclosure contemplates any suitable links 450. Inparticular embodiments, one or more links 450 include one or morewireline (such as for example Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or Data OverCable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS)), wireless (such as forexample Wi-Fi or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access(WiMAX)), or optical (such as for example Synchronous Optical Network(SONET) or Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH)) links. In particularembodiments, one or more links 450 each include an ad hoc network, anintranet, an extranet, a VPN, a LAN, a WLAN, a WAN, a WWAN, a MAN, aportion of the Internet, a portion of the PSTN, a cellulartechnology-based network, a satellite communications technology-basednetwork, another link 450, or a combination of two or more such links450. Links 450 need not necessarily be the same throughout networkenvironment 400. One or more first links 450 may differ in one or morerespects from one or more second links 450.

In particular embodiments, client system 430 may be an electronic deviceincluding hardware, software, or embedded logic components or acombination of two or more such components and capable of carrying outthe appropriate functionalities implemented or supported by clientsystem 430. As an example and not by way of limitation, a client system430 may include a computer system such as a desktop computer, notebookor laptop computer, netbook, a tablet computer, e-book reader, GPSdevice, camera, personal digital assistant (PDA), handheld electronicdevice, cellular telephone, smartphone, augmented/virtual realitydevice, other suitable electronic device, or any suitable combinationthereof. This disclosure contemplates any suitable client systems 430. Aclient system 430 may enable a network user at client system 430 toaccess network 410. A client system 430 may enable its user tocommunicate with other users at other client systems 430.

In particular embodiments, client system 430 may include a web browser432, such as MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER, GOOGLE CHROME or MOZILLAFIREFOX, and may have one or more add-ons, plug-ins, or otherextensions, such as TOOLBAR or YAHOO TOOLBAR. A user at client system430 may enter a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or other addressdirecting the web browser 432 to a particular server (such as server462, or a server associated with a third-party system 470), and the webbrowser 432 may generate a Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requestand communicate the HTTP request to server. The server may accept theHTTP request and communicate to client system 430 one or more Hyper TextMarkup Language (HTML) files responsive to the HTTP request. Clientsystem 430 may render a webpage based on the HTML files from the serverfor presentation to the user. This disclosure contemplates any suitablewebpage files. As an example and not by way of limitation, webpages mayrender from HTML files, Extensible Hyper Text Markup Language (XHTML)files, or Extensible Markup Language (XML) files, according toparticular needs. Such pages may also execute scripts such as, forexample and without limitation, those written in JAVASCRIPT, JAVA,MICROSOFT SILVERLIGHT, combinations of markup language and scripts suchas AJAX (Asynchronous JAVASCRIPT and XML), and the like. Herein,reference to a webpage encompasses one or more corresponding webpagefiles (which a browser may use to render the webpage) and vice versa,where appropriate.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 460 may be anetwork-addressable computing system that can host an online socialnetwork. Social-networking system 460 may generate, store, receive, andsend social-networking data, such as, for example, user-profile data,concept-profile data, social-graph information, or other suitable datarelated to the online social network. Social-networking system 460 maybe accessed by the other components of network environment 400 eitherdirectly or via network 410. As an example and not by way of limitation,client system 430 may access social-networking system 460 using a webbrowser 432, or a native application associated with social-networkingsystem 460 (e.g., a mobile social-networking application, a messagingapplication, another suitable application, or any combination thereof)either directly or via network 410. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 460 may include one or more servers 462. Eachserver 462 may be a unitary server or a distributed server spanningmultiple computers or multiple datacenters. Servers 462 may be ofvarious types, such as, for example and without limitation, web server,news server, mail server, message server, advertising server, fileserver, application server, exchange server, database server, proxyserver, another server suitable for performing functions or processesdescribed herein, or any combination thereof. In particular embodiments,each server 462 may include hardware, software, or embedded logiccomponents or a combination of two or more such components for carryingout the appropriate functionalities implemented or supported by server462. In particular embodiments, social-networking system 460 may includeone or more data stores 464. Data stores 464 may be used to storevarious types of information. In particular embodiments, the informationstored in data stores 464 may be organized according to specific datastructures. In particular embodiments, each data store 464 may be arelational, columnar, correlation, or other suitable database. Althoughthis disclosure describes or illustrates particular types of databases,this disclosure contemplates any suitable types of databases. Particularembodiments may provide interfaces that enable a client system 430, asocial-networking system 460, or a third-party system 470 to manage,retrieve, modify, add, or delete, the information stored in data store464.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 460 may store one ormore social graphs in one or more data stores 464. In particularembodiments, a social graph may include multiple nodes—which may includemultiple user nodes (each corresponding to a particular user) ormultiple concept nodes (each corresponding to a particular concept)—andmultiple edges connecting the nodes. Social-networking system 460 mayprovide users of the online social network the ability to communicateand interact with other users. In particular embodiments, users may jointhe online social network via social-networking system 460 and then addconnections (e.g., relationships) to a number of other users ofsocial-networking system 460 to whom they want to be connected. Herein,the term “friend” may refer to any other user of social-networkingsystem 460 with whom a user has formed a connection, association, orrelationship via social-networking system 460.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 460 may provideusers with the ability to take actions on various types of items orobjects, supported by social-networking system 460. As an example andnot by way of limitation, the items and objects may include groups orsocial networks to which users of social-networking system 460 maybelong, events or calendar entries in which a user might be interested,computer-based applications that a user may use, transactions that allowusers to buy or sell items via the service, interactions withadvertisements that a user may perform, or other suitable items orobjects. A user may interact with anything that is capable of beingrepresented in social-networking system 460 or by an external system ofthird-party system 470, which is separate from social-networking system460 and coupled to social-networking system 460 via a network 410.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 460 may be capableof linking a variety of entities. As an example and not by way oflimitation, social-networking system 460 may enable users to interactwith each other as well as receive content from third-party systems 470or other entities, or to allow users to interact with these entitiesthrough an application programming interfaces (API) or othercommunication channels.

In particular embodiments, a third-party system 470 may include one ormore types of servers, one or more data stores, one or more interfaces,including but not limited to APIs, one or more web services, one or morecontent sources, one or more networks, or any other suitable components,e.g., that servers may communicate with. A third-party system 470 may beoperated by a different entity from an entity operatingsocial-networking system 460. In particular embodiments, however,social-networking system 460 and third-party systems 470 may operate inconjunction with each other to provide social-networking services tousers of social-networking system 460 or third-party systems 470. Inthis sense, social-networking system 460 may provide a platform, orbackbone, which other systems, such as third-party systems 470, may useto provide social-networking services and functionality to users acrossthe Internet.

In particular embodiments, a third-party system 470 may include athird-party content object provider. A third-party content objectprovider may include one or more sources of content objects, which maybe communicated to a client system 430. As an example and not by way oflimitation, content objects may include information regarding things oractivities of interest to the user, such as, for example, movie showtimes, movie reviews, restaurant reviews, restaurant menus, productinformation and reviews, or other suitable information. As anotherexample and not by way of limitation, content objects may includeincentive content objects, such as coupons, discount tickets, giftcertificates, or other suitable incentive objects.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 460 also includesuser-generated content objects, which may enhance a user's interactionswith social-networking system 460. User-generated content may includeanything a user can add, upload, send, or “post” to social-networkingsystem 460. As an example and not by way of limitation, a usercommunicates posts to social-networking system 460 from a client system430. Posts may include data such as status updates or other textualdata, location information, photos, videos, links, music or othersimilar data or media. Content may also be added to social-networkingsystem 460 by a third-party through a “communication channel,” such as anewsfeed or stream.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 460 may include avariety of servers, sub-systems, programs, modules, logs, and datastores. In particular embodiments, social-networking system 460 mayinclude one or more of the following: a web server, action logger,API-request server, relevance-and-ranking engine, content-objectclassifier, notification controller, action log,third-party-content-object-exposure log, inference module,authorization/privacy server, search module, advertisement-targetingmodule, user-interface module, user-profile store, connection store,third-party content store, or location store. Social-networking system460 may also include suitable components such as network interfaces,security mechanisms, load balancers, failover servers,management-and-network-operations consoles, other suitable components,or any suitable combination thereof In particular embodiments,social-networking system 460 may include one or more user-profile storesfor storing user profiles. A user profile may include, for example,biographic information, demographic information, behavioral information,social information, or other types of descriptive information, such aswork experience, educational history, hobbies or preferences, interests,affinities, or location. Interest information may include interestsrelated to one or more categories. Categories may be general orspecific. As an example and not by way of limitation, if a user “likes”an article about a brand of shoes the category may be the brand, or thegeneral category of “shoes” or “clothing.” A connection store may beused for storing connection information about users. The connectioninformation may indicate users who have similar or common workexperience, group memberships, hobbies, educational history, or are inany way related or share common attributes. The connection informationmay also include user-defined connections between different users andcontent (both internal and external). A web server may be used forlinking social-networking system 460 to one or more client systems 430or one or more third-party system 470 via network 410. The web servermay include a mail server or other messaging functionality for receivingand routing messages between social-networking system 460 and one ormore client systems 430. An API-request server may allow a third-partysystem 470 to access information from social-networking system 460 bycalling one or more APIs. An action logger may be used to receivecommunications from a web server about a user's actions on or offsocial-networking system 460. In conjunction with the action log, athird-party-content-object log may be maintained of user exposures tothird-party-content objects. A notification controller may provideinformation regarding content objects to a client system 430.Information may be pushed to a client system 430 as notifications, orinformation may be pulled from client system 430 responsive to a requestreceived from client system 430. Authorization servers may be used toenforce one or more privacy settings of the users of social-networkingsystem 460. A privacy setting of a user determines how particularinformation associated with a user can be shared. The authorizationserver may allow users to opt in to or opt out of having their actionslogged by social-networking system 460 or shared with other systems(e.g., third-party system 470), such as, for example, by settingappropriate privacy settings. Third-party-content-object stores may beused to store content objects received from third parties, such as athird-party system 470. Location stores may be used for storing locationinformation received from client systems 430 associated with users.Advertisement-pricing modules may combine social information, thecurrent time, location information, or other suitable information toprovide relevant advertisements, in the form of notifications, to auser.

FIG. 5 illustrates example social graph 500. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 460 may store one or more social graphs 500 inone or more data stores. In particular embodiments, social graph 500 mayinclude multiple nodes—which may include multiple user nodes 502 ormultiple concept nodes 504—and multiple edges 506 connecting the nodes.Example social graph 500 illustrated in FIG. 5 is shown, for didacticpurposes, in a two-dimensional visual map representation. In particularembodiments, a social-networking system 460, client system 430, orthird-party system 470 may access social graph 500 and relatedsocial-graph information for suitable applications. The nodes and edgesof social graph 500 may be stored as data objects, for example, in adata store (such as a social-graph database). Such a data store mayinclude one or more searchable or queryable indexes of nodes or edges ofsocial graph 500.

In particular embodiments, a user node 502 may correspond to a user ofsocial-networking system 460. As an example and not by way oflimitation, a user may be an individual (human user), an entity (e.g.,an enterprise, business, or third-party application), or a group (e.g.,of individuals or entities) that interacts or communicates with or oversocial-networking system 460. In particular embodiments, when a userregisters for an account with social-networking system 460,social-networking system 460 may create a user node 502 corresponding tothe user, and store the user node 502 in one or more data stores. Usersand user nodes 502 described herein may, where appropriate, refer toregistered users and user nodes 502 associated with registered users. Inaddition or as an alternative, users and user nodes 502 described hereinmay, where appropriate, refer to users that have not registered withsocial-networking system 460. In particular embodiments, a user node 502may be associated with information provided by a user or informationgathered by various systems, including social-networking system 460. Asan example and not by way of limitation, a user may provide his or hername, profile picture, contact information, birth date, sex, maritalstatus, family status, employment, education background, preferences,interests, or other demographic information. In particular embodiments,a user node 502 may be associated with one or more data objectscorresponding to information associated with a user. In particularembodiments, a user node 502 may correspond to one or more webpages.

In particular embodiments, a concept node 504 may correspond to aconcept. As an example and not by way of limitation, a concept maycorrespond to a place (such as, for example, a movie theater,restaurant, landmark, or city); a website (such as, for example, awebsite associated with social-network system 460 or a third-partywebsite associated with a web-application server); an entity (such as,for example, a person, business, group, sports team, or celebrity); aresource (such as, for example, an audio file, video file, digitalphoto, text file, structured document, or application) which may belocated within social-networking system 460 or on an external server,such as a web-application server; real or intellectual property (suchas, for example, a sculpture, painting, movie, game, song, idea,photograph, or written work); a game; an activity; an idea or theory; anobject in a augmented/virtual reality environment; another suitableconcept; or two or more such concepts. A concept node 504 may beassociated with information of a concept provided by a user orinformation gathered by various systems, including social-networkingsystem 460. As an example and not by way of limitation, information of aconcept may include a name or a title; one or more images (e.g., animage of the cover page of a book); a location (e.g., an address or ageographical location); a website (which may be associated with a URL);contact information (e.g., a phone number or an email address); othersuitable concept information; or any suitable combination of suchinformation. In particular embodiments, a concept node 504 may beassociated with one or more data objects corresponding to informationassociated with concept node 504. In particular embodiments, a conceptnode 504 may correspond to one or more webpages.

In particular embodiments, a node in social graph 500 may represent orbe represented by a webpage (which may be referred to as a “profilepage”). Profile pages may be hosted by or accessible tosocial-networking system 460. Profile pages may also be hosted onthird-party websites associated with a third-party system 470. As anexample and not by way of limitation, a profile page corresponding to aparticular external webpage may be the particular external webpage andthe profile page may correspond to a particular concept node 504.Profile pages may be viewable by all or a selected subset of otherusers. As an example and not by way of limitation, a user node 502 mayhave a corresponding user-profile page in which the corresponding usermay add content, make declarations, or otherwise express himself orherself. As another example and not by way of limitation, a concept node504 may have a corresponding concept-profile page in which one or moreusers may add content, make declarations, or express themselves,particularly in relation to the concept corresponding to concept node504.

In particular embodiments, a concept node 504 may represent athird-party webpage or resource hosted by a third-party system 470. Thethird-party webpage or resource may include, among other elements,content, a selectable or other icon, or other inter-actable object(which may be implemented, for example, in JavaScript, AJAX, or PHPcodes) representing an action or activity. As an example and not by wayof limitation, a third-party webpage may include a selectable icon suchas “like,” “check-in,” “eat,” “recommend,” or another suitable action oractivity. A user viewing the third-party webpage may perform an actionby selecting one of the icons (e.g., “check-in”), causing a clientsystem 430 to send to social-networking system 460 a message indicatingthe user's action. In response to the message, social-networking system460 may create an edge (e.g., a check-in-type edge) between a user node502 corresponding to the user and a concept node 504 corresponding tothe third-party webpage or resource and store edge 506 in one or moredata stores.

In particular embodiments, a pair of nodes in social graph 500 may beconnected to each other by one or more edges 506. An edge 506 connectinga pair of nodes may represent a relationship between the pair of nodes.In particular embodiments, an edge 506 may include or represent one ormore data objects or attributes corresponding to the relationshipbetween a pair of nodes. As an example and not by way of limitation, afirst user may indicate that a second user is a “friend” of the firstuser. In response to this indication, social-networking system 460 maysend a “friend request” to the second user. If the second user confirmsthe “friend request,” social-networking system 460 may create an edge506 connecting the first user's user node 502 to the second user's usernode 502 in social graph 500 and store edge 506 as social-graphinformation in one or more of data stores 464. In the example of FIG. 5,social graph 500 includes an edge 506 indicating a friend relationbetween user nodes 502 of user “A” and user “B” and an edge indicating afriend relation between user nodes 502 of user “C” and user “B.”Although this disclosure describes or illustrates particular edges 506with particular attributes connecting particular user nodes 502, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable edges 506 with any suitableattributes connecting user nodes 502. As an example and not by way oflimitation, an edge 506 may represent a friendship, family relationship,business or employment relationship, fan relationship (including, e.g.,liking, etc.), follower relationship, visitor relationship (including,e.g., accessing, viewing, checking-in, sharing, etc.), subscriberrelationship, superior/subordinate relationship, reciprocalrelationship, non-reciprocal relationship, another suitable type ofrelationship, or two or more such relationships. Moreover, although thisdisclosure generally describes nodes as being connected, this disclosurealso describes users or concepts as being connected. Herein, referencesto users or concepts being connected may, where appropriate, refer tothe nodes corresponding to those users or concepts being connected insocial graph 500 by one or more edges 506.

In particular embodiments, an edge 506 between a user node 502 and aconcept node 504 may represent a particular action or activity performedby a user associated with user node 502 toward a concept associated witha concept node 504. As an example and not by way of limitation, asillustrated in FIG. 5, a user may “like,” “attended,” “played,”“listened,” “cooked,” “worked at,” or “watched” a concept, each of whichmay correspond to an edge type or subtype. A concept-profile pagecorresponding to a concept node 504 may include, for example, aselectable “check in” icon (such as, for example, a clickable “check in”icon) or a selectable “add to favorites” icon. Similarly, after a userclicks these icons, social-networking system 460 may create a “favorite”edge or a “check in” edge in response to a user's action correspondingto a respective action. As another example and not by way of limitation,a user (user “C”) may listen to a particular song (“Imagine”) using aparticular application (SPOTIFY, which is an online music application).In this case, social-networking system 460 may create a “listened” edge506 and a “used” edge (as illustrated in FIG. 5) between user nodes 502corresponding to the user and concept nodes 504 corresponding to thesong and application to indicate that the user listened to the song andused the application. Moreover, social-networking system 460 may createa “played” edge 506 (as illustrated in FIG. 5) between concept nodes 504corresponding to the song and the application to indicate that theparticular song was played by the particular application. In this case,“played” edge 506 corresponds to an action performed by an externalapplication (SPOTIFY) on an external audio file (the song “Imagine”).Although this disclosure describes particular edges 506 with particularattributes connecting user nodes 502 and concept nodes 504, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable edges 506 with any suitableattributes connecting user nodes 502 and concept nodes 504. Moreover,although this disclosure describes edges between a user node 502 and aconcept node 504 representing a single relationship, this disclosurecontemplates edges between a user node 502 and a concept node 504representing one or more relationships. As an example and not by way oflimitation, an edge 506 may represent both that a user likes and hasused at a particular concept. Alternatively, another edge 506 mayrepresent each type of relationship (or multiples of a singlerelationship) between a user node 502 and a concept node 504 (asillustrated in FIG. 5 between user node 502 for user “E” and conceptnode 504 for “SPOTIFY”).

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 460 may create anedge 506 between a user node 502 and a concept node 504 in social graph500. As an example and not by way of limitation, a user viewing aconcept-profile page (such as, for example, by using a web browser or aspecial-purpose application hosted by the user's client system 430) mayindicate that he or she likes the concept represented by the conceptnode 504 by clicking or selecting a “Like” icon, which may cause theuser's client system 430 to send to social-networking system 460 amessage indicating the user's liking of the concept associated with theconcept-profile page. In response to the message, social-networkingsystem 460 may create an edge 506 between user node 502 associated withthe user and concept node 504, as illustrated by “like” edge 506 betweenthe user and concept node 504. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 460 may store an edge 506 in one or more datastores. In particular embodiments, an edge 506 may be automaticallyformed by social-networking system 460 in response to a particular useraction. As an example and not by way of limitation, if a first useruploads a picture, watches a movie, or listens to a song, an edge 506may be formed between user node 502 corresponding to the first user andconcept nodes 504 corresponding to those concepts. Although thisdisclosure describes forming particular edges 506 in particular manners,this disclosure contemplates forming any suitable edges 506 in anysuitable manner.

In particular embodiments, an advertisement may be text (which may beHTML-linked), one or more images (which may be HTML-linked), one or morevideos, audio, other suitable digital object files, a suitablecombination of these, or any other suitable advertisement in anysuitable digital format presented on one or more webpages, in one ormore e-mails, or in connection with search results requested by a user.In addition or as an alternative, an advertisement may be one or moresponsored stories (e.g., a news-feed or ticker item on social-networkingsystem 460). A sponsored story may be a social action by a user (such as“liking” a page, “liking” or commenting on a post on a page, RSVPing toan event associated with a page, voting on a question posted on a page,checking in to a place, using an application or playing a game, or“liking” or sharing a website) that an advertiser promotes, for example,by having the social action presented within a pre-determined area of aprofile page of a user or other page, presented with additionalinformation associated with the advertiser, bumped up or otherwisehighlighted within news feeds or tickers of other users, or otherwisepromoted. The advertiser may pay to have the social action promoted. Asan example and not by way of limitation, advertisements may be includedamong the search results of a search-results page, where sponsoredcontent is promoted over non-sponsored content.

In particular embodiments, an advertisement may be requested for displaywithin social-networking-system webpages, third-party webpages, or otherpages. An advertisement may be displayed in a dedicated portion of apage, such as in a banner area at the top of the page, in a column atthe side of the page, in a GUI of the page, in a pop-up window, in adrop-down menu, in an input field of the page, over the top of contentof the page, or elsewhere with respect to the page. In addition or as analternative, an advertisement may be displayed within an application. Anadvertisement may be displayed within dedicated pages, requiring theuser to interact with or watch the advertisement before the user mayaccess a page or utilize an application. The user may, for example viewthe advertisement through a web browser.

A user may interact with an advertisement in any suitable manner. Theuser may click or otherwise select the advertisement. By selecting theadvertisement, the user may be directed to (or a browser or otherapplication being used by the user) a page associated with theadvertisement. At the page associated with the advertisement, the usermay take additional actions, such as purchasing a product or serviceassociated with the advertisement, receiving information associated withthe advertisement, or subscribing to a newsletter associated with theadvertisement. An advertisement with audio or video may be played byselecting a component of the advertisement (like a “play button”).Alternatively, by selecting the advertisement, social-networking system460 may execute or modify a particular action of the user.

An advertisement may also include social-networking-system functionalitythat a user may interact with. As an example and not by way oflimitation, an advertisement may enable a user to “like” or otherwiseendorse the advertisement by selecting an icon or link associated withendorsement. As another example and not by way of limitation, anadvertisement may enable a user to search (e.g., by executing a query)for content related to the advertiser. Similarly, a user may share theadvertisement with another user (e.g., through social-networking system460) or RSVP (e.g., through social-networking system 460) to an eventassociated with the advertisement. In addition or as an alternative, anadvertisement may include social-networking-system content directed tothe user. As an example and not by way of limitation, an advertisementmay display information about a friend of the user withinsocial-networking system 460 who has taken an action associated with thesubject matter of the advertisement.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 460 may determinethe social-graph affinity (which may be referred to herein as“affinity”) of various social-graph entities for each other. Affinitymay represent the strength of a relationship or level of interestbetween particular objects associated with the online social network,such as users, concepts, content, actions, advertisements, other objectsassociated with the online social network, or any suitable combinationthereof. Affinity may also be determined with respect to objectsassociated with third-party systems 470 or other suitable systems. Anoverall affinity for a social-graph entity for each user, subjectmatter, or type of content may be established. The overall affinity maychange based on continued monitoring of the actions or relationshipsassociated with the social-graph entity. Although this disclosuredescribes determining particular affinities in a particular manner, thisdisclosure contemplates determining any suitable affinities in anysuitable manner.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 460 may measure orquantify social-graph affinity using an affinity coefficient (which maybe referred to herein as “coefficient”). The coefficient may representor quantify the strength of a relationship between particular objectsassociated with the online social network. The coefficient may alsorepresent a probability or function that measures a predictedprobability that a user will perform a particular action based on theuser's interest in the action. In this way, a user's future actions maybe predicted based on the user's prior actions, where the coefficientmay be calculated at least in part on the history of the user's actions.Coefficients may be used to predict any number of actions, which may bewithin or outside of the online social network. As an example and not byway of limitation, these actions may include various types ofcommunications, such as sending messages, posting content, or commentingon content; various types of observation actions, such as accessing orviewing profile pages, media, or other suitable content; various typesof coincidence information about two or more social-graph entities, suchas being in the same group, tagged in the same photograph, checked-in atthe same location, or attending the same event; or other suitableactions. Although this disclosure describes measuring affinity in aparticular manner, this disclosure contemplates measuring affinity inany suitable manner.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 460 may use avariety of factors to calculate a coefficient. These factors mayinclude, for example, user actions, types of relationships betweenobjects, location information, other suitable factors, or anycombination thereof. In particular embodiments, different factors may beweighted differently when calculating the coefficient. The weights foreach factor may be static or the weights may change according to, forexample, the user, the type of relationship, the type of action, theuser's location, and so forth. Ratings for the factors may be combinedaccording to their weights to determine an overall coefficient for theuser. As an example and not by way of limitation, particular useractions may be assigned both a rating and a weight while a relationshipassociated with the particular user action is assigned a rating and acorrelating weight (e.g., so the weights total 100%). To calculate thecoefficient of a user towards a particular object, the rating assignedto the user's actions may comprise, for example, 60% of the overallcoefficient, while the relationship between the user and the object maycomprise 40% of the overall coefficient. In particular embodiments, thesocial-networking system 460 may consider a variety of variables whendetermining weights for various factors used to calculate a coefficient,such as, for example, the time since information was accessed, decayfactors, frequency of access, relationship to information orrelationship to the object about which information was accessed,relationship to social-graph entities connected to the object, short- orlong-term averages of user actions, user feedback, other suitablevariables, or any combination thereof. As an example and not by way oflimitation, a coefficient may include a decay factor that causes thestrength of the signal provided by particular actions to decay withtime, such that more recent actions are more relevant when calculatingthe coefficient. The ratings and weights may be continuously updatedbased on continued tracking of the actions upon which the coefficient isbased. Any type of process or algorithm may be employed for assigning,combining, averaging, and so forth the ratings for each factor and theweights assigned to the factors. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 460 may determine coefficients usingmachine-learning algorithms trained on historical actions and past userresponses, or data farmed from users by exposing them to various optionsand measuring responses. Although this disclosure describes calculatingcoefficients in a particular manner, this disclosure contemplatescalculating coefficients in any suitable manner.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 460 may calculate acoefficient based on a user's actions. Social-networking system 460 maymonitor such actions on the online social network, on a third-partysystem 470, on other suitable systems, or any combination thereof. Anysuitable type of user actions may be tracked or monitored. Typical useractions include viewing profile pages, creating or posting content,interacting with content, tagging or being tagged in images, joininggroups, listing and confirming attendance at events, checking-in atlocations, liking particular pages, creating pages, and performing othertasks that facilitate social action. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 460 may calculate a coefficient based on theuser's actions with particular types of content. The content may beassociated with the online social network, a third-party system 470, oranother suitable system. The content may include users, profile pages,posts, news stories, headlines, instant messages, chat roomconversations, emails, advertisements, pictures, video, music, othersuitable objects, or any combination thereof. Social-networking system460 may analyze a user's actions to determine whether one or more of theactions indicate an affinity for subject matter, content, other users,and so forth. As an example and not by way of limitation, if a userfrequently posts content related to “coffee” or variants thereof,social-networking system 460 may determine the user has a highcoefficient with respect to the concept “coffee”. Particular actions ortypes of actions may be assigned a higher weight and/or rating thanother actions, which may affect the overall calculated coefficient. Asan example and not by way of limitation, if a first user emails a seconduser, the weight or the rating for the action may be higher than if thefirst user simply views the user-profile page for the second user.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 460 may calculate acoefficient based on the type of relationship between particularobjects. Referencing the social graph 500, social-networking system 460may analyze the number and/or type of edges 506 connecting particularuser nodes 502 and concept nodes 504 when calculating a coefficient. Asan example and not by way of limitation, user nodes 502 that areconnected by a spouse-type edge (representing that the two users aremarried) may be assigned a higher coefficient than a user nodes 502 thatare connected by a friend-type edge. In other words, depending upon theweights assigned to the actions and relationships for the particularuser, the overall affinity may be determined to be higher for contentabout the user's spouse than for content about the user's friend. Inparticular embodiments, the relationships a user has with another objectmay affect the weights and/or the ratings of the user's actions withrespect to calculating the coefficient for that object. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, if a user is tagged in a first photo, butmerely likes a second photo, social-networking system 460 may determinethat the user has a higher coefficient with respect to the first photothan the second photo because having a tagged-in-type relationship withcontent may be assigned a higher weight and/or rating than having alike-type relationship with content. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 460 may calculate a coefficient for a firstuser based on the relationship one or more second users have with aparticular object. In other words, the connections and coefficientsother users have with an object may affect the first user's coefficientfor the object. As an example and not by way of limitation, if a firstuser is connected to or has a high coefficient for one or more secondusers, and those second users are connected to or have a highcoefficient for a particular object, social-networking system 460 maydetermine that the first user should also have a relatively highcoefficient for the particular object. In particular embodiments, thecoefficient may be based on the degree of separation between particularobjects. The lower coefficient may represent the decreasing likelihoodthat the first user will share an interest in content objects of theuser that is indirectly connected to the first user in the social graph500. As an example and not by way of limitation, social-graph entitiesthat are closer in the social graph 500 (i.e., fewer degrees ofseparation) may have a higher coefficient than entities that are furtherapart in the social graph 500.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 460 may calculate acoefficient based on location information. Objects that aregeographically closer to each other may be considered to be more relatedor of more interest to each other than more distant objects. Inparticular embodiments, the coefficient of a user towards a particularobject may be based on the proximity of the object's location to acurrent location associated with the user (or the location of a clientsystem 430 of the user). A first user may be more interested in otherusers or concepts that are closer to the first user. As an example andnot by way of limitation, if a user is one mile from an airport and twomiles from a gas station, social-networking system 460 may determinethat the user has a higher coefficient for the airport than the gasstation based on the proximity of the airport to the user.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 460 may performparticular actions with respect to a user based on coefficientinformation. Coefficients may be used to predict whether a user willperform a particular action based on the user's interest in the action.A coefficient may be used when generating or presenting any type ofobjects to a user, such as advertisements, search results, news stories,media, messages, notifications, or other suitable objects. Thecoefficient may also be utilized to rank and order such objects, asappropriate. In this way, social-networking system 460 may provideinformation that is relevant to user's interests and currentcircumstances, increasing the likelihood that they will find suchinformation of interest. In particular embodiments, social-networkingsystem 460 may generate content based on coefficient information.Content objects may be provided or selected based on coefficientsspecific to a user. As an example and not by way of limitation, thecoefficient may be used to generate media for the user, where the usermay be presented with media for which the user has a high overallcoefficient with respect to the media object. As another example and notby way of limitation, the coefficient may be used to generateadvertisements for the user, where the user may be presented withadvertisements for which the user has a high overall coefficient withrespect to the advertised object. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 460 may generate search results based oncoefficient information. Search results for a particular user may bescored or ranked based on the coefficient associated with the searchresults with respect to the querying user. As an example and not by wayof limitation, search results corresponding to objects with highercoefficients may be ranked higher on a search-results page than resultscorresponding to objects having lower coefficients.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 460 may calculate acoefficient in response to a request for a coefficient from a particularsystem or process. To predict the likely actions a user may take (or maybe the subject of) in a given situation, any process may request acalculated coefficient for a user. The request may also include a set ofweights to use for various factors used to calculate the coefficient.This request may come from a process running on the online socialnetwork, from a third-party system 470 (e.g., via an API or othercommunication channel), or from another suitable system. In response tothe request, social-networking system 460 may calculate the coefficient(or access the coefficient information if it has previously beencalculated and stored). In particular embodiments, social-networkingsystem 460 may measure an affinity with respect to a particular process.Different processes (both internal and external to the online socialnetwork) may request a coefficient for a particular object or set ofobjects. Social-networking system 460 may provide a measure of affinitythat is relevant to the particular process that requested the measure ofaffinity. In this way, each process receives a measure of affinity thatis tailored for the different context in which the process will use themeasure of affinity.

In connection with social-graph affinity and affinity coefficients,particular embodiments may utilize one or more systems, components,elements, functions, methods, operations, or steps disclosed in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/503,093, filed 11 Aug. 2006, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/977,027, filed 22 Dec. 2010, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/978,265, filed 23 Dec. 2010, and U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/632,869, filed 1 Oct. 2012, each of which isincorporated by reference.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example computer system 600. In particularembodiments, one or more computer systems 600 perform one or more stepsof one or more methods described or illustrated herein. In particularembodiments, one or more computer systems 600 provide functionalitydescribed or illustrated herein. In particular embodiments, softwarerunning on one or more computer systems 600 performs one or more stepsof one or more methods described or illustrated herein or providesfunctionality described or illustrated herein. Particular embodimentsinclude one or more portions of one or more computer systems 600.Herein, reference to a computer system may encompass a computing device,and vice versa, where appropriate. Moreover, reference to a computersystem may encompass one or more computer systems, where appropriate.

This disclosure contemplates any suitable number of computer systems600. This disclosure contemplates computer system 600 taking anysuitable physical form. As example and not by way of limitation,computer system 600 may be an embedded computer system, a system-on-chip(SOC), a single-board computer system (SBC) (such as, for example, acomputer-on-module (COM) or system-on-module (SOM)), a desktop computersystem, a laptop or notebook computer system, an interactive kiosk, amainframe, a mesh of computer systems, a mobile telephone, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a server, a tablet computer system, anaugmented/virtual reality device, or a combination of two or more ofthese. Where appropriate, computer system 600 may include one or morecomputer systems 600; be unitary or distributed; span multiplelocations; span multiple machines; span multiple data centers; or residein a cloud, which may include one or more cloud components in one ormore networks. Where appropriate, one or more computer systems 600 mayperform without substantial spatial or temporal limitation one or moresteps of one or more methods described or illustrated herein. As anexample and not by way of limitation, one or more computer systems 600may perform in real time or in batch mode one or more steps of one ormore methods described or illustrated herein. One or more computersystems 600 may perform at different times or at different locations oneor more steps of one or more methods described or illustrated herein,where appropriate.

In particular embodiments, computer system 600 includes a processor 602,memory 604, storage 606, an input/output (I/O) interface 608, acommunication interface 610, and a bus 612. Although this disclosuredescribes and illustrates a particular computer system having aparticular number of particular components in a particular arrangement,this disclosure contemplates any suitable computer system having anysuitable number of any suitable components in any suitable arrangement.

In particular embodiments, processor 602 includes hardware for executinginstructions, such as those making up a computer program. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, to execute instructions, processor 602 mayretrieve (or fetch) the instructions from an internal register, aninternal cache, memory 604, or storage 606; decode and execute them; andthen write one or more results to an internal register, an internalcache, memory 604, or storage 606. In particular embodiments, processor602 may include one or more internal caches for data, instructions, oraddresses. This disclosure contemplates processor 602 including anysuitable number of any suitable internal caches, where appropriate. Asan example and not by way of limitation, processor 602 may include oneor more instruction caches, one or more data caches, and one or moretranslation lookaside buffers (TLBs). Instructions in the instructioncaches may be copies of instructions in memory 604 or storage 606, andthe instruction caches may speed up retrieval of those instructions byprocessor 602. Data in the data caches may be copies of data in memory604 or storage 606 for instructions executing at processor 602 tooperate on; the results of previous instructions executed at processor602 for access by subsequent instructions executing at processor 602 orfor writing to memory 604 or storage 606; or other suitable data. Thedata caches may speed up read or write operations by processor 602. TheTLBs may speed up virtual-address translation for processor 602. Inparticular embodiments, processor 602 may include one or more internalregisters for data, instructions, or addresses. This disclosurecontemplates processor 602 including any suitable number of any suitableinternal registers, where appropriate. Where appropriate, processor 602may include one or more arithmetic logic units (ALUs); be a multi-coreprocessor; or include one or more processors 602. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular processor, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable processor.

In particular embodiments, memory 604 includes main memory for storinginstructions for processor 602 to execute or data for processor 602 tooperate on. As an example and not by way of limitation, computer system600 may load instructions from storage 606 or another source (such as,for example, another computer system 600) to memory 604. Processor 602may then load the instructions from memory 604 to an internal registeror internal cache. To execute the instructions, processor 602 mayretrieve the instructions from the internal register or internal cacheand decode them. During or after execution of the instructions,processor 602 may write one or more results (which may be intermediateor final results) to the internal register or internal cache. Processor602 may then write one or more of those results to memory 604. Inparticular embodiments, processor 602 executes only instructions in oneor more internal registers or internal caches or in memory 604 (asopposed to storage 606 or elsewhere) and operates only on data in one ormore internal registers or internal caches or in memory 604 (as opposedto storage 606 or elsewhere). One or more memory buses (which may eachinclude an address bus and a data bus) may couple processor 602 tomemory 604. Bus 612 may include one or more memory buses, as describedbelow. In particular embodiments, one or more memory management units(MMUs) reside between processor 602 and memory 604 and facilitateaccesses to memory 604 requested by processor 602. In particularembodiments, memory 604 includes random access memory (RAM). This RAMmay be volatile memory, where appropriate. Where appropriate, this RAMmay be dynamic RAM (DRAM) or static RAM (SRAM). Moreover, whereappropriate, this RAM may be single-ported or multi-ported RAM. Thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable RAM. Memory 604 may include one ormore memories 604, where appropriate. Although this disclosure describesand illustrates particular memory, this disclosure contemplates anysuitable memory.

In particular embodiments, storage 606 includes mass storage for data orinstructions. As an example and not by way of limitation, storage 606may include a hard disk drive (HDD), a floppy disk drive, flash memory,an optical disc, a magneto-optical disc, magnetic tape, or a UniversalSerial Bus (USB) drive or a combination of two or more of these. Storage606 may include removable or non-removable (or fixed) media, whereappropriate. Storage 606 may be internal or external to computer system600, where appropriate. In particular embodiments, storage 606 isnon-volatile, solid-state memory. In particular embodiments, storage 606includes read-only memory (ROM). Where appropriate, this ROM may bemask-programmed ROM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM),electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), electrically alterable ROM (EAROM),or flash memory or a combination of two or more of these. Thisdisclosure contemplates mass storage 606 taking any suitable physicalform. Storage 606 may include one or more storage control unitsfacilitating communication between processor 602 and storage 606, whereappropriate. Where appropriate, storage 606 may include one or morestorages 606. Although this disclosure describes and illustratesparticular storage, this disclosure contemplates any suitable storage.

In particular embodiments, I/O interface 608 includes hardware,software, or both, providing one or more interfaces for communicationbetween computer system 600 and one or more I/O devices. Computer system600 may include one or more of these I/O devices, where appropriate. Oneor more of these I/O devices may enable communication between a personand computer system 600. As an example and not by way of limitation, anI/O device may include a keyboard, keypad, microphone, monitor, mouse,printer, scanner, speaker, still camera, stylus, tablet, touch screen,trackball, video camera, another suitable I/O device or a combination oftwo or more of these. An I/O device may include one or more sensors.This disclosure contemplates any suitable I/O devices and any suitableI/O interfaces 608 for them. Where appropriate, I/O interface 608 mayinclude one or more device or software drivers enabling processor 602 todrive one or more of these I/O devices. I/O interface 608 may includeone or more I/O interfaces 608, where appropriate. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular I/O interface, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable I/O interface.

In particular embodiments, communication interface 610 includeshardware, software, or both providing one or more interfaces forcommunication (such as, for example, packet-based communication) betweencomputer system 600 and one or more other computer systems 600 or one ormore networks. As an example and not by way of limitation, communicationinterface 610 may include a network interface controller (NIC) ornetwork adapter for communicating with an Ethernet or other wire-basednetwork or a wireless NIC (WNIC) or wireless adapter for communicatingwith a wireless network, such as a WI-FI network. This disclosurecontemplates any suitable network and any suitable communicationinterface 610 for it. As an example and not by way of limitation,computer system 600 may communicate with an ad hoc network, a personalarea network (PAN), a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), or one or more portions of theInternet or a combination of two or more of these. One or more portionsof one or more of these networks may be wired or wireless. As anexample, computer system 600 may communicate with a wireless PAN (WPAN)(such as, for example, a BLUETOOTH WPAN), a WI-FI network, a WI-MAXnetwork, a cellular telephone network (such as, for example, a GlobalSystem for Mobile Communications (GSM) network), or other suitablewireless network or a combination of two or more of these. Computersystem 600 may include any suitable communication interface 610 for anyof these networks, where appropriate. Communication interface 610 mayinclude one or more communication interfaces 610, where appropriate.Although this disclosure describes and illustrates a particularcommunication interface, this disclosure contemplates any suitablecommunication interface.

In particular embodiments, bus 612 includes hardware, software, or bothcoupling components of computer system 600 to each other. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, bus 612 may include an AcceleratedGraphics Port (AGP) or other graphics bus, an Enhanced Industry StandardArchitecture (EISA) bus, a front-side bus (FSB), a HYPERTRANSPORT (HT)interconnect, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, an INFINIBANDinterconnect, a low-pin-count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a Micro ChannelArchitecture (MCA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, aPCI-Express (PCIe) bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA)bus, a Video Electronics Standards Association local (VLB) bus, oranother suitable bus or a combination of two or more of these. Bus 612may include one or more buses 612, where appropriate. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular bus, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable bus or interconnect.

Herein, a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium or media mayinclude one or more semiconductor-based or other integrated circuits(ICs) (such, as for example, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) orapplication-specific ICs (ASICs)), hard disk drives (HDDs), hybrid harddrives (HHDs), optical discs, optical disc drives (ODDs),magneto-optical discs, magneto-optical drives, floppy diskettes, floppydisk drives (FDDs), magnetic tapes, solid-state drives (SSDs),RAM-drives, SECURE DIGITAL cards or drives, any other suitablecomputer-readable non-transitory storage media, or any suitablecombination of two or more of these, where appropriate. Acomputer-readable non-transitory storage medium may be volatile,non-volatile, or a combination of volatile and non-volatile, whereappropriate.

Herein, “or” is inclusive and not exclusive, unless expressly indicatedotherwise or indicated otherwise by context. Therefore, herein, “A or B”means “A, B, or both,” unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicatedotherwise by context. Moreover, “and” is both joint and several, unlessexpressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context.Therefore, herein, “A and B” means “A and B, jointly or severally,”unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context.

The scope of this disclosure encompasses all changes, substitutions,variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodimentsdescribed or illustrated herein that a person having ordinary skill inthe art would comprehend. The scope of this disclosure is not limited tothe example embodiments described or illustrated herein. Moreover,although this disclosure describes and illustrates respectiveembodiments herein as including particular components, elements,feature, functions, operations, or steps, any of these embodiments mayinclude any combination or permutation of any of the components,elements, features, functions, operations, or steps described orillustrated anywhere herein that a person having ordinary skill in theart would comprehend. Furthermore, reference in the appended claims toan apparatus or system or a component of an apparatus or system beingadapted to, arranged to, capable of, configured to, enabled to, operableto, or operative to perform a particular function encompasses thatapparatus, system, component, whether or not it or that particularfunction is activated, turned on, or unlocked, as long as thatapparatus, system, or component is so adapted, arranged, capable,configured, enabled, operable, or operative. Additionally, although thisdisclosure describes or illustrates particular embodiments as providingparticular advantages, particular embodiments may provide none, some, orall of these advantages.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: by a computing system,receiving a first request to publish a live video, the first requestbeing received from a third-party computing system relative to thecomputing system; by the computing system, receiving a second requestfor content from a first user device associated with a first user; andby the computing system, in response to the second request, transmittingto the first user device display instructions and one or more networkaddresses from which the live video and an interface application areavailable; wherein the display instructions are configured to cause thefirst user device to: configure a video player application to displaythe live video obtained using at least one of the one or more networkaddresses; configure an interface application, obtained using at leastone of the one or more network addresses, to be displayed over at leasta portion of the live video; and configure the interface application tocommunicate with the third-party computing system.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: by the computing system, receiving adeeplink from the third-party computing system, the deeplink beingconfigured to cause an application associated with the third-partycomputing system to be launched, the deeplink comprising instructionsfor the application to initiate an action; and by the computing system,in response to the second request, transmitting the deeplink to thefirst user device; wherein the display instructions are furtherconfigured to cause the first user device to be configured to receive aninput activating the deeplink and, in response to the input, launch theapplication installed on the first user device associated with thedeeplink.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the instructions comprisedin the deeplink are associated with content in the live video.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, wherein the content in the live video is of a gamingapplication installed on a second user device being played in a gamingsession; wherein the deeplink is configured to cause the applicationinstalled on the first user device to be launched; wherein the actioninitiated by the instructions in the deeplink causes the applicationinstalled on the first user device to interact with the gamingapplication installed on the second user device through the gamingsession.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the live video is of contentpublished by a second user of a social network through an applicationassociated with the third-party computing system, wherein theapplication is being executed on a second user device associated withthe second user; wherein the method further comprises: by the computingsystem, in response to the first request to publish the live video,generating a live video object in a social graph, the live video objectbeing associated with a user object in the social graph representing thesecond user.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first user and thesecond user are represented in the social graph within a thresholddegree of separation.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: bythe computing system, presenting the live video on the first user devicein a newsfeed associated with a social network, wherein the live videois associated with an activation element; wherein the displayinstructions are executed upon user activation of the activationelement.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface application isconfigured to: receive input from the first user; transmit datacorresponding to the input to the third-party computing system; andprocess instructions from the third-party computing system.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the live video is of content published by asecond user of the social network through an application associated withthe third-party computing system, wherein the application is beingexecuted on a second user device associated with the second user;wherein the data corresponding to the input from the first user isconfigured to cause the third-party computing system to cause theapplication on the second user device to display information associatedwith the input from the first user.
 10. The method of claim 1, whereinthe interface application is configured to: transmit a reaction orcomment of the first user; and receive and display reactions or commentsfrom other users viewing the live video on their respective userdevices.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first request comprisesa network address associated with the third-party computing system;wherein the interface application is configured to communicate with thethird-party computing system using the network address transmitted bythe computing system to the first user device.
 12. The method of claim1, wherein the one or more network addresses comprise a network addressfrom which the live video is available and a different network addressfrom which the interface application is available.
 13. One or morecomputer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software thatis operable when executed to: receive a first request to publish a livevideo, the first request being received from a third-party computingsystem relative to the computing system; receive a second request forcontent from a first user device associated with a first user; and inresponse to the second request, transmit to the first user devicedisplay instructions and one or more network addresses from which thelive video and an interface application are available; wherein thedisplay instructions are configured to cause the first user device to:configure a video player application to display the live video obtainedusing at least one of the one or more network addresses; configure aninterface application, obtained using at least one of the one or morenetwork addresses, to be displayed over at least a portion of the livevideo; and configure the interface application to communicate with thethird-party computing system.
 14. The media of claim 13, wherein thesoftware is further operable when executed to: receive a deeplink fromthe third-party computing system, the deeplink being configured to causean application associated with the third-party computing system to belaunched, the deeplink comprising instructions for the application toinitiate an action; and in response to the second request, transmit thedeeplink to the first user device; wherein the display instructions arefurther configured to cause the first user device to be configured toreceive an input activating the deeplink and, in response to the input,launch the application installed on the first user device associatedwith the deeplink.
 15. The media of claim 14, wherein the instructionscomprised in the deeplink are associated with content in the live video.16. The media of claim 15, wherein the content in the live video is of agaming application installed on a second user device being played in agaming session; wherein the deeplink is configured to cause theapplication installed on the first user device to be launched; whereinthe action initiated by the instructions in the deeplink causes theapplication installed on the first user device to interact with thegaming application installed on the second user device through thegaming session.
 17. A system comprising: one or more processors; and oneor more computer-readable non-transitory storage media coupled to one ormore of the processors and comprising instructions operable whenexecuted by one or more of the processors to cause the system to:receive a first request to publish a live video, the first request beingreceived from a third-party computing system relative to the computingsystem; receive a second request for content from a first user deviceassociated with a first user; and in response to the second request,transmit to the first user device display instructions and one or morenetwork addresses from which the live video and an interface applicationare available; wherein the display instructions are configured to causethe first user device to: configure a video player application todisplay the live video obtained using at least one of the one or morenetwork addresses; configure an interface application, obtained using atleast one of the one or more network addresses, to be displayed over atleast a portion of the live video; and configure the interfaceapplication to communicate with the third-party computing system. 18.The system of claim 17, wherein the processors are further operable whenexecuting the instructions to: receive a deeplink from the third-partycomputing system, the deeplink being configured to cause an applicationassociated with the third-party computing system to be launched, thedeeplink comprising instructions for the application to initiate anaction; and in response to the second request, transmit the deeplink tothe first user device; wherein the display instructions are furtherconfigured to cause the first user device to be configured to receive aninput activating the deeplink and, in response to the input, launch theapplication installed on the first user device associated with thedeeplink.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions comprisedin the deeplink are associated with content in the live video.
 20. Thesystem of claim 19, wherein the content in the live video is of a gamingapplication installed on a second user device being played in a gamingsession; wherein the deeplink is configured to cause the applicationinstalled on the first user device to be launched; wherein the actioninitiated by the instructions in the deeplink causes the applicationinstalled on the first user device to interact with the gamingapplication installed on the second user device through the gamingsession.